52 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



rather paler under the neck and round the ears than on any 

 other part. 



There were two males of this species in the French Me- 

 nagerie, brought by Captain Baudin from the south of 

 New Holland. They did not live any length of time ; they 

 were tamed ; but they appeared rather to be habituated to 

 the presence of men in general, than to distinguish or 

 know them as individuals. All their motions were ex- 

 cessively slow. They seemed to be but little attracted by 

 what passed around them. They suffered themselves to be 

 carried off without resistance, and then, when set upon the 

 ground, they moved no faster than before ; not even blows 

 appeared to excite in them either fear or anger, nor is it 

 probable that any animal exists more completely passive. 

 In their natural state they dig and live in burrows, but 

 nothing further is known of their habits in this state. 

 Peron says that the flesh of the Wumbat is tender and 

 delicate, and that this animal is to be met with as 

 familiar as a dog in the cabins of the English fishermen. 

 Animals of so apathetic a nature, and so easily tamed, 

 would certainly reproduce in a state of domestication. 

 Their climate differs so little from that of Europe, that 

 they might easily be imported here and become naturalized 

 among us. 



This animal is the Phascolomys of M. Geoffroy, and the 

 Ursine Opossum of Shaw. 



